interstate
Americanadjective
noun
-
a highway serving two or more states.
-
(sometimes initial capital letter) a highway that is part of the nationwide U.S. Interstate Highway System.
adjective
adverb
verb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of interstate
Compare meaning
How does interstate compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
Explanation
If something is interstate, it happens between different U.S. states. For example, you can drive on Interstate 80 from downtown San Francisco, California to Teaneck, New Jersey. Yep, that's a trip. If you're driving from Rhode Island to Illinois, you can call it interstate travel, or an interstate road trip — you're going from state to state. An interstate highway connects different states together, like I-95, which is an east coast interstate highway that stretches from Maine to Florida. For short, you can call a road like this an interstate. This 20th century word combines inter-, "between," and state.
Vocabulary lists containing interstate
Chapter 11: Growth and Expansion
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The Constitution
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I Survived Hurricane Katrina, 2005
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Congress responded by passing the Air Commerce Act of 1926, which set much tougher requirements, at least for interstate flight.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 2, 2026
Prosecutors charged Thola-Duran with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, to receive and transport stolen property interstate, and to commit money laundering, and structuring transactions to avoid federal financial reporting requirements.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 23, 2026
All the other states, who controlled international and interstate migration, were restrictionist.
From Slate • Mar. 16, 2026
The requested two-year exemption would allow Zoox to make and deploy its vehicles for interstate commerce, according to the application.
From MarketWatch • Mar. 11, 2026
We were holing up for the night at a Holiday Inn Express next to the interstate, with Barack leaving for Missouri the next day and the girls and I headed home to Chicago.
From "Becoming" by Michelle Obama
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
